Are there fundamental human rights

Before it was passed, people had to take their complaints to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. Home Human Rights What are human rights? What are human rights? Pages in this section W What are human rights? What is Universal Declaration of Human Rights? What is the European Convention on Human Rights?

How are your rights protected? One of the great achievements of the United Nations is the creation of a comprehensive body of human rights law—a universal and internationally protected code to which all nations can subscribe and all people aspire.

The United Nations has defined a broad range of internationally accepted rights, including civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. It has also established mechanisms to promote and protect these rights and to assist states in carrying out their responsibilities.

The foundations of this body of law are the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , adopted by the General Assembly in and , respectively.

Since then, the United Nations has gradually expanded human rights law to encompass specific standards for women, children, persons with disabilities, minorities and other vulnerable groups, who now possess rights that protect them from discrimination that had long been common in many societies. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December by General Assembly resolution A III as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations.

It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected. Since its adoption in , the UDHR has been translated into more than languages - the most translated document in the world - and has inspired the constitutions of many newly independent States and many new democracies. The human rights that the Covenant seeks to promote and protect include:. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay. Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein. Watch and listen to people around the world reading articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in more than 80 languages. Hansa Mehta of India standing above Eleanor Roosevelt is widely credited with changing the phrase "All men are born free and equal" to "All human beings are born free and equal" in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Skip to main content. Toggle navigation Welcome to the United Nations. Article 1 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

Article 2 Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Article 3 Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Article 4 No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. Article 5 No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Article 6 Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7 All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. Article 8 Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law. Article 9 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. Article 10 Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11 Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed.

Follow us on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram. Stand Up for Human Rights. The Declaration in more than languages. Short videos on Human Rights and Treaty Bodies.

Are economic, social and political rights different from civil and political rights? International Human Rights Laws. Turn on more accessible mode.

Turn off more accessible mode. What are human rights?